A Holistic Church

When a pastor asked the congregation to express what the church meant to them, one couple wrote:

Our church may best be described as holistic, which means “the whole is much more than its parts.”Our church has many “parts”:  a lovely campus, rooms for education, a great fellowship hall and a lovely sanctuary.  There, the cross reminds us of God’s love, the altar reminds us of holy communion and the baptismal font reminds us of our faith.

In the sanctuary, we sing meaningful hymns, listen to our wonderful choir, hear God’s incomparable word, offer sincere prayers, give an offering and receive guidance for our bodies, minds and souls.  Finally, there is the part we call service.  We leave church each week to use our talents, time and resources in Christian service to a needy world.  We care because God cares.

All in all, the “whole” of our church is much more than the sum of its parts.  Ours is a holistic church striving to be holier.

What if Faith?

“Sight is not faith, and hearing is not faith, neither is feeling faith; but believing when we neither see, hear nor feel is faith; and everywhere the Bible tells us our salvation is to be by faith.  Therefore we must  believe before we feel, and often against our feelings, if we would honor God by our faith”.

-Hannah Whitall Smith